US President Donald Trump criticized Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance on Sunday, calling it “absolutely terrible” and an “affront” because it was entirely in Spanish, even as the Puerto Rican superstar drew praise for a vibrant show celebrating his culture and promoting unity.
“Nobody understands a word this guy is saying,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, despite more than 41 million Americans speaking Spanish. He also objected to the show’s focus on Puerto Rico, where Bad Bunny was born.
The 31-year-old artist, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, became the first Super Bowl headliner to perform exclusively in Spanish, turning the stadium into a Puerto Rican street festival with a sugarcane plantation, a piragua cart, a wedding scene, and a backdrop resembling a Puerto Rican home.
He opened with hits including “Titi Me Pregunto” and “Yo Perreo Sola,” backed by dancers, with guest appearances from Pedro Pascal, Jessica Alba, and Cardi B. Dressed first in an all-white outfit with a football jersey labeled “64 Ocasio” and later in a suit jacket, Bad Bunny addressed social issues during “El Apagon,” a song about power outages and displacement on the island, while carrying a Puerto Rican flag.
Surprise guests included Lady Gaga, performing a Latin-inflected version of “Die with a Smile,” the only English lyrics, and Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin. The show ended with Bad Bunny spiking a football labeled “Together, we are America,” as a stadium screen read, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
Conservative backlash focused on his choice not to sing in English. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell defended the selection, calling Bad Bunny “one of the great artists of the world,” as the league seeks to expand its international audience.
Born in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny rose from bagging groceries to global stardom via SoundCloud. His album Debi Tirar Mas Fotos recently became the first Spanish-language work to win the Grammy for Album of the Year. In Puerto Rico, the Super Bowl performance was widely seen as a moment of pride. AFP
